Eurovision Song Contest 2004

[kompressaur]

Right i know it's gay to like the Eurovision but we've found it a great betting medium the last two years. Last year slick and myself and others were on Turkey @ 25/1 and they won it on the last vote. It's a good Saturday night in slagging of our fellow europeans whilst getting pissed and then the voting last an hour and can be a bit tense. So get the family involved BEFORE the tourny by getting them to listen to ALL the songs and we'll all pool our resources again this year and get some handy readies for the next days Sunday Football. Right when is it?

Two consecutive draws were held yesterday in Istanbul, the host of the 49th Eurovision Song Contest, to determine the running-order for the Semi-Final and the Final. The dual event is organized by TRT (Turkish Radio Television). 2004 heralds a brand new format for the live contest: a Semi-Final on Wednesday 12 May and a Final on Saturday 15 May. A total of 36 countries will be taking part. The Semi-Final will comprise 22 countries in the following order: SEMI FINAL (May, 12th) 1. Finland 2. Belarus 3. Switzerland 4. Latvia 5. Israel 6. Andorra 7. Portugal 8. Malta 9. Monaco 10. Greece 11. Ukraine 12. Lithuania 13. Albania 14. Cyprus 15. F.Y.R. Macedonia 16. Slovenia 17. Estonia 18. Croatia 19. Denmark 20. Serbia & Montenegro 21. Bosnia & Herzegovina 22. Netherlands Ten of these will go on to the Final. A third draw will be held live immediately after the Semi-Final to decide the running-order of the qualifying semi-finalists. The Final will then comprise 24 countries: 10 qualifiers from the Semi-Final and 14 that have already secured their places. The 14 countries are: France, Germany, Spain and the UK (the four largest countries in the contest), Turkey (the 2003 winner) plus the nine other top-scoring countries in 2003: Austria, Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia and Sweden. At present the running-order for the Final is as follows: FINAL (May, 15th) 1. Spain 2. Austria 3. Norway 4. France 5. ---- (from semi final) 6. ---- (from semi final) 7. ---- (from semi final) 8. Germany 9. ---- (from semi final) 10. ---- (from semi final) 11. ---- (from semi final) 12. ---- (from semi final) 13. Belgium 14. Russia 15. ---- (from semi final) 16. ---- (from semi final) 17. Iceland 18. Ireland 19. Poland 20. United Kingdom 21. ---- (from semi final) 22. Turkey 23. Romania 24. Sweden

Mmm duaL format. Might be interesting trying to get the winner from the semi's at large odds. I'll go and see if any of the possible semi winners are any good.

[kompressaur]

Eurovision Song Contest 2004 bingo! found the entrants so far here- www.eurovisiondatabase.co.uk/ Most are on video and ill put the links on this thread with a nice picture of the performers and my views on each song (i wont do the 'go down a bomb in local disco's' for the Israeli entry:o ) www.eurovisiondatabase.co.uk/ All i can say for now is that the Swiss entry wont be winning. Wonder if there are any odds about that we could grab early?